Amtrak ridership down for 2016

The Missouri River Runner makes a trip across the state.
The Missouri River Runner makes a trip across the state.

Although ridership numbers were down in fiscal year 2016, Missouri Department of Transportation officials are optimistic things are looking up for the state's two cross-state Amtrak passenger trains.

For the fiscal year that ended in June, figures show 172,032 people rode Amtrak on the Missouri River Route. That was down 7.3 percent from 2015, when 185,591 people rode the trains.

"We're still seeing lower gas prices affect our ridership," MoDOT Railroad Operations Manager Kristi Jamison said. "Many areas across the Amtrak system are seeing this. One thing that really has hurt us is the construction of the high-speed rail line in Illinois. That is affecting ridership into St. Louis. About a third of our total ridership on the route is from connections from St. Louis and Kansas City. There have been many times we have to bus passengers and that never helps. The good news is the high-speed project should be completed in 2017, and that should help."

Amtrak is starting to see trends indicating the decline in ridership could be leveling off, Jamison said.

"Gas prices are starting to level off and time will tell, but we feel that could bring people back to the trains," she said. "When you compare the month numbers, we've come real close to meeting or exceeding the same numbers we had the last few months, compared to the same time last year."

Another positive development for the Missouri service is that on-time performance went up - from 83 percent in 2015 to 86 percent in 2016. For December, the figure rose to 94 percent.

"It's always a good indication because when the trains run on time that is a positive effect on ridership," Jamison said. "The customer satisfaction surveys on the River Runner are getting good marks, too. In 2015 we had 87 percent very satisfied, and in 2016 we went up to 90 percent. In the last four years the route has been in the top five for rider satisfaction and in the top 10 even longer. The on-time performance drives that. You can see fluctuations if we have track work or bad weather."

Among the 10 stations on the river route, Jefferson City holds steady at the No. 4 spot. Last year's numbers show just under 41,000 people came through the station. Kansas City, St. Louis and Kirkwood are the top three stations on the route.

Funding for the two cross-state trains comes from the state Legislature. In 2015, $8.9 million was appropriated, and in 2016 it was $9.6 million.

MoDOT requested $11.4 million for fiscal year 2017; Gov. Jay Nixon had $10.1 million in his budget, which is back down to $9.6 million as proposed by lawmakers for approval in the upcoming legislative session.

"As soon as funding is found, we've got projects ready to go that would help our on-time performance, primarily on the west side of the route," Jamison said. "The biggest would probably be a double track between Lee's Summit and Pleasant Hill. The east side is totally double-tracked, but we'd still like to see a cross over near Bonnots Mill to allow trains to cross the mainline tracks. That would help mitigate congestion when maintenance work is being done."

Jamison said there will be a 20 percent-off ticket sale for passengers from Jan. 3 through the end of March. Also, two new locomotives for the passenger trains will be put in service before October 2017. These are 100 percent federally funded, as the other locomotives are past their useful life.

While most Amtrak stations in Missouri are on the river route, there are a few on other Amtrak lines that run in the state. The 13th and newest station is at Arcadia Valley, near Johnson's Shut-ins State Park. That station is served by the Texas Eagle, which runs out of St. Louis, going north and south along the Mississippi River, eventually taking passengers to San Antonio.